- HISTORY OF 



they are ever, at small intervals, cracked through 

 as it were by perpendicular fissures ; the earth re- 

 sembling, in this respect, the muddy bottom of a 

 pond, from whence the water has been dried off 

 by the sun, and thus gaping in several chinks, 

 which descend in a direction perpendicular to its 

 surface. These fissures are many times found 

 empty, but oftener closed up with adventitious 

 substances, that the rain, or some other acciden- 

 tal causes, have conveyed to fill their cavities. 

 Their openings are not less different than their 

 contents, some being not above half an inch wide, 

 some a foot, and some several hundred yards 

 asunder : These last form those dreadful chasms 

 that are to be found in the Alps, at the edge of 

 which the traveller stands, dreading to look down 

 at the immeasurable gulf below. These amaz- 

 ing clefts are well known to such as have passed 

 these mountains, where a chasm frequently pre- 

 sents itself several hundred feet deep, and as 

 many over, at the edge of which the way lies. 

 It often happens, also, that the road leads along 

 the bottom, and then the spectator observes on 

 each side frightful precipices several hundred 

 yards above him ; the sides of which correspond 

 so exactly with each other, that they evidently 

 seem torn asunder. 



But these chasms, to be found in the Alps, are 

 nothing to what Ovalle tells us are to be seen in 

 the Andes. These amazing mountains, in com- 

 parison of which the former are but little hills, 

 have their fissures in proportion to their greatness. 

 In some places they are a mile wide, and deep in 



